test-drb February 2012

test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

158 participants
158 discussions

IBM 360/30 on display in Terrassa (Barcelona)

by ljw-cctech＠ljw.me.uk

Anyone wanting to see an IBM 360 Model 30, and not able to get to the CHM, can see the one on display at the Science and Technology Museum in Terrassa (immediately west of Barcelona.) This links shows what is on display, and where they came from: http://ordinadors.mnactec.cat/ibm-system360.html This is the exhibition catalogue: http://issuu.com/mnactec/docs/dossier-premsa-expo-historia-ordinador?mode=w… (Note - in Spanish, and Google translate doesn't help much with the first link, but you can work most of it out.) After a bit of a gap I have been busy on my 360/30 project, working on the 1050 (console typewriter) interface so that programs can have a sensible way of doing input and output (via a serial port.) -- Lawrence Wilkinson lawrence at ljw.me.uk The IBM 360/30 page http://www.ljw.me.uk/ibm360

12 years, 10 months

Assistance in reading old Tapes needing

by oe5ewl＠gmail.com

Hi all, I'd need assistance (hardware or actually reading in the tape) in reading some old 1600bpi PDP11 Tapes - containing an old operating System. If you can help, I'd appreciate if you contact me off list. Regards, Wolfgang PS: I have a tape drive but the unit is completely dead. Two local contacts which had working drives told me a sad story: Drives decomissioned, scrapped etc...... -- Wolfgang Eichberger - OE5EWL Operating System Collector Blog: 5ewl.blogspot.com Homepage: www.eichberger.org

12 years, 10 months

SuperBrain Disks

by dave12＠dunfield.com

Hi everybody, I've had delivery turned off for a long time - seems I'm no longer subscribed as my password does not work ... hopefully this will make it to the list, however I will not receive replies sent to the list except by checking the archives (which I don't do very often). I checked the archives today to see if a chap I had directed to the list got help with SuperBrain disks. I see several comments that I "should have them". I've never been able to read the diskettes from my original SuperBrain. I can read the first two tracks, then errors on every track - missing address marks. I cannot read them with ImageDisk nor TeleDisk. I've tried multiple different drives and types of drives - I simply cannot read the SuperBrain disks on anything except the SuperBrain. Every so often this comes up, and several people say "but SuperBrain disks are bog standard and easy to read" - so apparently I am the only one on the planet who can't read them. After explaining the above (that I simply cannot read them, and that I have in fact tried really hard) - I always get several offers to send me images or disks that can be read ... but nobody has every followed through, which is why I do not have SuperBrain disks on my site. I do have another system called a "CompuStar" which is a rebadged SuperBrain - and most of the disk from that system ARE readable on a PC ... BUT... the guy who owned it really liked APL, and created his own character generator ROM and custom BIOS to support APL characters on the machine ... All of his disks are "hand made" (not originals) and although his disks boot, they display incomprehensible garbage on a normal SuperBrain. Therefore I see little point in posting them as SuperBrain disks. I've only found one disk from his collection which boots and displays on the normal Brain - and it has the missing address mark problem. I've tried booting the Compustar disks on the SuperBrain and blind- formatting a disk --- but the created disk is still unreadable. I am assuming that the Z80 based disk controller in my SuperBrain makes disks which are not readable on a PC (the SB reads them fine). It can boot and read the CompuStar disks, however it does not appear to be able to format a readable disk. Unfortunately the Compustar is not currently working, and will need significant work to repair - so I cannot try formatting disks on it. And I am unable to create anything on the SuperBrain which I can read on the PC. Which is why I cannot provide disk images for the SuperBrain. I've tried - I simply cannot make it happen. Dave -- dave12 (at) Dave Dunfield dunfield Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com (dot) com Classic computers: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/

12 years, 10 months

C compilers and non-ASCII systems

by spc＠conman.org

A friend recently raised an issue with some code I wrote (a hex dump routine) saying it depended upon ASCII and thus, would break on non-ASCII based systems (and proposed a solution, but that's beside the issue here). I wrote back, saying the code in question was non-portable to begin with (since it depended upon read() and write()---it was targetted at Posix based systems) and besides, I've never encountered a non-ASCII system in the nearly 30 years I've been using computers. So now I'm wondering---besides Baudot, 6-bit BCD and EBCDIC, is there any other encoding scheme used? And of Baudot, 6-bit BCD and EBCDIC, are there any systems using those encoding schemes *AND* have a C compiler available? -spc (Or can I safely assume ASCII and derivatives these days?)

12 years, 10 months

mail client evilness, was Re: architectural diversity, gcc - Re: C compilers and non-ASCII systems

by cctech＠beyondthepale.ie

> The problem with format=flowed, is that it just doesn't work well with > older mail clients. It doesn't work particularly well for anyone reading the mailing list archive via the web interface either. However, I can't tell whether the correct header is present or not in the affected messages as the web interface does not reveal the headers. (It works fine if reading messages in VMS mail, until an attempt to reply is made and everything turns out to be on one line...) Regards, Peter Coghlan.

12 years, 10 months

Apple II SPI

by brain＠jbrain.com

Barring implementation of 65SPI on a CPLD, is there a quick-n-dirty way to wire up a SPI-based module to an Apple II/II+/IIe? I'm looking for a temp solution, while I design a Apple II board with a correct interface. Something that doesn't require any soldering would be grand (bit banging the SPI via some IO pins, Using the DSR/DTR/RTS pins on the RS232 (if that can be done...), etc. Jim -- Jim Brain brain at jbrain.com www.jbrain.com

12 years, 10 months

Commordore 64 character color cycling

by tpresence＠hotmail.com

>> I'm not familiar with BG Micro (yet), but I know Unicorn has a hefty >> minimum, which Jameco does not (while you're there, though, you might as >> well pick up the socket as well and maybe some spare parts (like more >> 6502s). >Not long ago, Jameco had commodore PLAs for a song (something like a >dollar or less). I know a brazilian that bought 50 :o) >But remembering - You can put a 27C512 EPROM with a special bin in place >of a PLA! Google is your (best) friend! :D Any idea what part number you saw for the PLAs from Jameco? Although I have all the other ICs I need, I don't have a properly programmed N82S100. I am going to buy the sockets there anyway...I really wouldn't mind buying a programmer, especially if I could get a USB model that was reliable (the sparkfun model I saw did not rate well, but its $50).Is there a programmer that is less than $100 and will do the job?Kevin

12 years, 10 months

Imaging OSI disks

by dm561＠torfree.net

A question for Chuck, Fred and anyone else with relevant experience/knowledge: can OSI disks (specifically Challenger 4P disks) be read by a PC and imaged/recreated ? If so, how? If not, why not? Don't see 'em in either 22disk or Xenocopy, but then they're not CP/M. It's a question from a third party and I don't have any disks or I'd try some imaging programs myself. TIA, m

12 years, 10 months

Wanted: Parallel DB25 Microswitch ASCII Keyboard

by nick.allen＠comcast.net

Anyone have a Parallel Microswitch ASCII Keyboard they are willing to part with?

12 years, 10 months

OT: HP signature analyzer

by mcguire＠neurotica.com

Hey folks. I have a short-term need for an HP signature analyzer. I don't need one of these very often, so I'm not really keen on buying one. (I know...those here who have seen my lab may be astonished to learn that there's a piece of test equipment that I do not have...but this particular one is rather boring, and not one of HP's better ideas) Does anyone in the US have one that I'd be able to borrow for a few days? Thanks, -Dave -- Dave McGuire New Kensington, PA

12 years, 11 months

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test-drb February 2012